Chapter 259: Land Communalization, Spare The Land But Not The Heads
The wind of the Qilian Mountains swept across the land of Liangzhou, carrying a bloody scent. Fields that were once crisscrossed with furrows were now covered in scorched earth and remains.
Broken banners of the Western Xia Army were half-buried in the scorched earth, with shattered armor and weapons scattered everywhere, some still impaled on twisted corpses.
The congealed dark red blood stained the fertile land a bizarre ochre color.
The afterglow of the setting sun cast upon this purgatory, gilding the ravaged scene with a bleak golden hue.
Tens of thousands of Western Xia soldiers lined up in a winding procession like walking dead, their hair disheveled, their eyes hollow and numb, their weapons feeling as if they weighed a thousand pounds.
“Hurry up and put all the weapons in front.”
“Anyone caught hiding any will be executed without mercy.”
On both sides of the line, a Northern Frontier Centurion shouted loudly, brandishing his cavalry saber.
Beside him, many soldiers holding hook scythe spears or bows and crossbows watched these lining up Western Xia soldiers with vigilant eyes.
They watched as they piled their spears, bows and crossbows, and armor separately.
During this process, any Western Xia soldier who caused trouble would be shot and killed on the spot.
Soon, tens of thousands of weapons were piled into several small hills, standing in the wilderness, a spectacular sight.
The Western Xia soldiers who had dropped their weapons were then led to the edge of the camp.
Hundreds of Kuli Army cooks were carrying out buckets of millet porridge, one after another.
“Clang clang clang clang~”
The cooks beat the sides of the buckets with wooden ladles, shouting loudly as they looked at the endless line of Western Xia soldiers.
“Hurry up, get in line.”
“One by one, one bowl per person, no one can take more than their share.”
Although he was just a cook, a sense of superiority rose in his heart at this moment, and he even held his head a little higher, his voice becoming much louder as he shouted.
After all, not long ago, he was a Western Xia soldier just like these people.
But he surrendered early.
He was among the first batch of captives to surrender to the Northern Frontier and, after re-education, successfully became an infantryman in the Kuli Army.
Looking at these ‘newcomers,’ they were all disheveled, sallow, and looked like they hadn’t eaten a full meal in many days.
They were truly miserable.
Superiority is born of comparison; at this moment, the cook could only feel fortunate that he had surrendered early.
Although he was only a ‘low-ranking soldier’ in the Northern Frontier Army, at least he could eat his fill.
The other cooks were the same, diligently wielding their wooden ladles to ladle the millet porridge into the earthenware bowls held by the soldiers.
“It’s porridge, it’s all porridge!”
Looking at the bowls full of millet porridge, all the Western Xia soldiers’ expressions were excited. They squatted on the ground and gulped it down. The scalding porridge reddened their throats, but no one cared.
They hadn’t eaten a full meal in many days, and many were dizzy from hunger.
Upon seeing the millet porridge, they could no longer suppress their excitement.
“It seems our lives are saved.”
“Yes, the Northern Frontier people are giving us porridge, which at least proves they aren’t treating us too badly.”
“However, I wonder if we’ll ever have a chance to go home.”
Some, while eating, suddenly buried their heads in their bowls, their shoulders shaking violently. Suppressed sobs mixed with slurping sounds echoed across the desolate land.
For the hungry, nothing was more enticing than food.
The Northern Frontier Army only needed to offer a bowl of millet porridge to quell the unease and worries of most Western Xia soldiers.
However, going home would likely not be so easy.
If there was an opportunity, perhaps someone could carry a letter to their families. Once they were established in the Northern Frontier, they could have their families secretly come to reunite.
Li Xiao left the Second and Fourth Divisions, along with some Kuli Army infantry, to continue clearing the battlefield and organizing the prisoners.
He himself led the First and Sixth Divisions towards Liangzhou City.
However, as soon as he arrived outside Liangzhou City, he learned that an envoy had been sent from the city to request an audience.
As the sun set, Li Xiao, fully armored, stood on his warhorse, gazing at Liangzhou City bathed in golden light from afar.
He said in a deep voice, “Bring the person up, let’s meet.”
The Northern Frontier Army had just arrived outside Liangzhou City and would rest for the night before attacking the city in the early morning.
Therefore, meeting the other party was not a problem.
Soon, a middle-aged man was brought into a newly erected golden tent.
He appeared to be in his thirties, wearing a brocade robe, not tall, with a short beard, small eyes darting around, and a face full of flattery. He bowed to Li Xiao.
“This humble one, Wang Hongchang, Clerk of Liangzhou, pays his respects to the Great Protector.”
After a moment, Li Xiao’s cold voice came from above, “You, a mere clerk, what matter brings you to seek an audience with this Protector?”
His voice was calm and unruffled, as if addressing an ant.
Although the clerk was a significant figure within Liangzhou City, it would be easier for Li Xiao to kill him than to crush an ant.
Wang Hongchang stood in the tent, secretly looking up at Li Xiao, and found Li Xiao to be very young.
He looked to be around twenty years old, wearing golden armor, with short-cropped hair, radiating energy. His chiseled face had sharp, distinct features, resolute and stern.
His deep eyes gazed at him quietly, making him feel an invisible, terrifying sense of pressure.
Wang Hongchang trembled slightly, and quickly lowered his head. His Adam’s apple bobbed with difficulty as he feigned an indignant tone, saying, “The ruler and officials of the Xia Kingdom are foolish and incompetent, disregarding the common people.”
“The Imperial Court’s army has furthermore invaded our fertile land of Liangzhou without authorization, committing all sorts of atrocities by burning, killing, and looting. The people have long suffered under them.”
“Day and night, they have longed for the arrival of the Great Protector’s righteous army to rescue the soldiers and civilians of Liangzhou from dire straits.”
“Today, we learn that the Great Protector’s Royal Army has finally arrived, and the soldiers and civilians of Liangzhou are overjoyed.”
“The Prefect, following Heaven’s will and the people’s desire, wishes to offer Liangzhou City with both hands, to aid the Northern Frontier Army in expelling the jackals and restoring peace and tranquility to the land of Liangzhou.”
Wang Hongchang spoke with great emotion, cursing the ruler and officials of the court as foolish and speaking ill of the Northern Frontier Army with a clear conscience, all for the sake of his own life.
To survive, nothing was too demeaning.
While speaking, he secretly glanced at Li Xiao, who was seated at the head of the table. Seeing Li Xiao’s inscrutable expression, he quickly lowered his head again, “However, the Prefect has a few humble requests, and I beg the Great Protector’s understanding.”
“The people of Liangzhou have suffered through war and are poor and distressed. We only ask that after entering the city, the Great Protector ensures the safety of the old and young within the city and the peace of the shops.”
“To this end, Liangzhou City is willing to offer 300,000 liang of silver and 100,000 piculs of provisions to reward the army, only hoping that the benevolent reputation of the Northern Frontier Army can, like the snowmelt of the Qilian Mountains, moisten this land of suffering.”
After speaking, he prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to look up for a long time, the cold sweat on his palms soaking through his silk sleeves.
The tent was very quiet. Wang Hongchang’s heart pounded, and he could only hear his own breathing.
After a long while, Li Xiao’s voice finally came from above.
“Go back and tell your Prefect~”
“This Protector can forgive Liangzhou City’s crime of abetting evil, and can also guarantee the safety of Liangzhou’s people.”
“However, 300,000 liang of silver is far from enough. I want 600,000 liang, and the grain should be 200,000 piculs.”
“In addition, all landlords and magnates within Liangzhou City must hand over all the farmland and grasslands they possess, not keeping a single mu.”
Li Xiao tapped his fingers lightly on the table, speaking in a slightly measured tone.
The conditions offered by Liangzhou City were truly insincere.
In essence, it was buying peace with money. After the Northern Frontier Army left, Liangzhou City would remain the same Liangzhou City.
Nobles and powerful families would still oppress the common people and act with impunity, with no real change.
But Li Xiao was thinking further ahead.
Because simply capturing Liangzhou City would mean that the entire Hexi Corridor would become the Northern Frontier Army’s territory for their horses to roam.
This war had gone smoothly, and Li Xiao was no longer content with just taking population and wealth and leaving.
He had developed a greater ambition for the land of the Hexi Corridor, especially for Ganzhou and Liangzhou, which were the essence of the entire Hexi Corridor.
The land was fertile and the grass was lush, with vast farmlands. The annual grain production accounted for more than one-third of the entire Western Xia.
The Northern Frontier was already short on grain. If the farmlands of Ganzhou and Liangzhou could be utilized, the benefits would be self-evident.
Li Xiao’s only concern was that the Hexi Corridor was too far from Jin Prefecture and closer to Xingqing Prefecture.
If too much investment was made in the Hexi Corridor, and war broke out, Jin Prefecture would be too far to intervene.
Therefore, he was still considering a solution that would benefit both sides.
But no matter what, the resources and land within Liangzhou City had to be vomited out by these black-hearted maggots.
Upon hearing Li Xiao’s words, Wang Hongchang’s expression instantly changed dramatically: “What?”
“Hand over all the farmland and grasslands?”
A colossal wave surged in his heart.
He instantly understood Li Xiao’s intention: the Northern Frontier Army would not leave; they would take root in the Hexi Corridor.
From now on, the Hexi Corridor would be called ‘Bei’ (Northern).
Everyone instinctively viewed the Northern Frontier as a nomadic people of the grasslands, believing they would simply loot wealth and population.
Now, Wang Hongchang understood that the Northern Frontier’s ambition was far greater than anyone imagined.
“This, this, this~”
“Great Protector, this might not be possible!”
Wang Hongchang said anxiously, looking up at Li Xiao with a mournful face.
“Great Protector, farmland is the lifeline of the common people!”
“If you ask the common people to hand over their means of survival, people will truly starve to death.”
Sixty thousand liang of silver and two hundred thousand piculs of grain, while a lot, would at most cause pain to the city’s magnates and officials. They could slowly squeeze it back from the lowly people later.
But without farmland and grasslands, it would truly be cutting off their lifeline.
“Great Protector, how about this: from now on, the land tax will be doubled~” Wang Hongchang had a sudden inspiration and thought of a method.
Although he spoke piteously, Li Xiao smiled, his eyes revealing even more coldness.
Wang Hongchang’s method was essentially a tax farming system.
The farmland would still belong to these magnates, and they would pay sufficient tax silver and grain to the Great Protector’s Mansion annually.
As for other aspects, although not explicitly stated, as long as these officials and magnates remained, and the farmland was still in their hands, then the voice of authority in Liangzhou City would naturally remain with them.
The Northern Frontier Army would merely be the Supreme Emperor of Liangzhou City; the actual administration would still be handled by these officials and magnates.
Moreover, to meet the Northern Frontier’s financial and grain needs, they would inevitably shift the burden onto the common people.
High taxes, high land rent!
Not only would they have to satisfy the financial and grain needs of the Northern Frontier Army, but they would also undoubtedly extract benefits for themselves.
The common people would complain bitterly, and in the end, their resentment would be directed towards the Northern Frontier.
Uprisings and riots would ensue, possibly triggering a chain reaction, forcing the Northern Frontier Army to abandon Liangzhou.
Li Xiao could see through the intricacies of this situation at a glance.
It might fool the Jurchens and Mongols, who had shallow backgrounds and lacked knowledge, but this approach wouldn’t work on Li Xiao.
Because in his plan, the future Northern Frontier would not have a place for these traditional scholar-officials.
Even current figures like Zhang Xinghua and Chen Chong were merely transitional.
The foundation of the Northern Frontier’s rule had always been the Northern Frontier’s military group, and always the Six Garrisons.
Li Xiao had already increased investment in the education of the Six Garrisons’ descendants, requiring these second and third-generation individuals to not only inherit their ancestors’ bravery and skill in combat but also to be literate and proficient in arithmetic.
In ten years, as more and more descendants of the Six Garrisons grew up, the Northern Frontier’s foundation would become even stronger.
The traditional scholar-official class would gradually lose its ruling role. To become an official in the Northern Frontier, one first had to be a soldier.
Therefore, starting from Liangzhou, Li Xiao would collectivize the farmland, and this would be the precedent for future policies.
While the implementation of this policy would undoubtedly increase the difficulty of conquering the Central Plains in the future, leading to the staunch resistance of local scholar-officials and powerful families,
The saying remains: the Northern Frontier does not necessarily require scholar-officials.
Li Xiao would rather postpone the unification of the Central Plains and first strengthen his internal capabilities to forge a solid foundation for the Northern Frontier’s rule.
If rules were not established from the beginning, the Northern Frontier would undoubtedly suffer the same fate as the Jin Dynasty and the Mongol Empire in the future.
Looking at Wang Hongchang’s pathetic attempts to elicit sympathy, Li Xiao tapped his fingers on the table, his expression becoming increasingly cold, and said in a grave voice.
“When did farmland become the lifeline of the common people? It is clearly the lifeline of you powerful families and magnates!”
“And when have the common people ever owned farmland?”
“Hasn’t their farmland already been plundered by you through cunning and rapacious means during repeated natural disasters and man-made calamities?”
In the world, there are still more common people without land.
Whether farmland is collectively owned or not has no bearing on the majority of ordinary people; it is the magnates and powerful families who are concerned.
Li Xiao is the last person who needs to care about them, and he doesn’t need to rely on them.
He wants to make these people understand that the Northern Frontier is not in a cooperative relationship with them, but a relationship of rule and subjugation.
“Listen obediently, hand over all the farmland and grasslands, and this Protector can still leave you some property, allowing you to become loyal subjects of my Northern Frontier.”
“Otherwise, this Protector will not hesitate to uproot you completely.”
Pausing, Li Xiao slowly ran his hand over the cold, gleaming Dragon Head Cavalry Saber at his waist, his voice filled with killing intent saying.
“The Northern Frontier’s blade has sliced through the stones of the Qilian Mountains, drunk the blood of the Western Xia Iron Cavalry, and does not mind adding the bones and blood of the Liangzhou people.”
He suddenly drew his war saber, its edge slicing through the air with a sharp hum. Even from a distance, Wang Hongchang felt his scalp tingle.
Trembling, his hair stood on end.
Li Xiao stood up, the edge of the saber tracing a long line on the ground before slowly settling on Wang Hongchang’s head, making him instantly jolt and tremble violently.
“Great, Great Protector, please don’t~”
Li Xiao ignored him, only saying in a faint voice, “My army can not only flatten the Western Xia formations but also turn Liangzhou into another scorched earth.”
“Do not harbor any hope; the area for hundreds of miles around is where the hooves of the Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry can tread. Your city and its people are as fragile as a candle in the wind under my army’s might.”
After speaking, Li Xiao had no more interest in wasting words with him and said coldly, “Get out!”
“I’ll give you one night. Tomorrow morning, my Northern Frontier Army will begin the siege, and you will no longer have a chance to surrender.”
The next second, Li Xiao’s deep, resonant voice sounded: “Get out~”
Wang Hongchang’s trembling body instantly collapsed to the ground, and he scrambled out of the tent.
Watching his disheveled figure, Li Xiao shook his head in disdain.
Then, holding his saber, he walked out of the tent and looked at Liangzhou City in the setting sun. Rendered in golden light, it appeared sacred yet lonely, unsupported.
The Gan-Liang land, with its fertile fields and crisscrossing paths, was the most important grain-producing area. An opportunity lay before him, and Li Xiao still wanted to try.
……
And on the other side, Wang Hongchang brought Li Xiao’s original words to the powerful households inside the city.
This instantly made these people furious.
“What? They want farmland and grasslands?”
“This is going to uproot us!”
“Exactly, the farmland of my Puchá family has been accumulated over generations, taking a century of hard work. Why should we hand it over just because the Great Protector of the Northern Frontier said so?”
“Refuse? And they’ll kill your whole family!”
“If you hand it over, they might leave you some property to get by, and perhaps there will be a chance to rise again in the future.”
“Kill my whole family? Let them come.”
“Anyway, without farmland, my whole family has no way to survive, so we might as well fight them to the bitter end now.”
The officials and wealthy families inside Liangzhou City were arguing noisily, and the dignified and solemn Prefect’s Mansion had become like a marketplace.
Meanwhile, Su Binara, using the excuse of being gravely ill, had not shown himself, but nothing that happened could escape his notice.
“Hmph, a bunch of stupid pigs.”
“It is precisely because of these parasites who bully the weak and fear the strong, and are insatiable for greed, that my Great Xia has fallen into its current state,” Su Binara scoffed coldly.
When they had colluded to sideline him and intended to surrender to the Northern Frontier people, these individuals had not been so tough.
Now, the Northern Frontier people want their farmland, and they are immediately jumping up to fight them.
What took them so long?
However, thinking about this matter gave Su Binara a headache.
He also owned quite a bit of farmland in Liangzhou City. If it were taken by the Northern Frontier people, all his lifelong hard work would turn to nothing.
“Alas, this is troublesome!”
Soon, the terms of the Northern Frontier Army began to spread throughout the city like wildfire.
“Farmland? What does that have to do with me? My family’s land was all sold to Master Puchá by my grandfather’s generation.”
“My family doesn’t have land anymore either.”
“Those officials are really something. If the Northern Frontier people want it, just give it to them. Is land more important than life?”
“In past years, during natural disasters, my family couldn’t get enough to eat, so we sold all our land to the officials just to survive.”
“You don’t understand. Those officials have thousands of acres of land. If they have to hand it all over at once, it’s like taking their lives, isn’t it?”
“Anyway, it has nothing to do with us. It’s all the same whether we farm for the officials or for the Northern Frontier people.”
“But I heard that the land rent from the Northern Frontier people is only twenty percent,” someone suddenly said.
It was an Imperial Guard scout who had been planted in Liangzhou City. Because of the tense warfare, he had also been conscripted as a laborer. During the defense of the city, he naturally seized the opportunity to bewitch these soldiers and promote the benefits of the Northern Frontier.
Indeed, as soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding soldiers became instantly interested.
“Twenty percent? Is that true!”
“Good heavens, why is it so low? My family has to pay fifty percent rent for what we farm!”
“If the land tax is truly only twenty percent, we would actually make a profit by farming for the Northern Frontier people.”
“That’s right, the Northern Frontier people are quite good.”
The soldiers’ attitudes began to change, shifting from initial indifference to a subtle anticipation of farming for the Northern Frontier.
With a twenty percent land rent and an additional twenty percent land tax, the common people would ultimately receive sixty percent of the grain, which was much higher than the standard of this era.
While the common people gained more, the Northern Frontier’s interests did not decrease.
In fact, it was far more than the treasury income of Western Xia, Jin Dynasty, and Song Dynasty!
Whose interests were reduced?
Naturally, it was the profits of the landlords and the scholar-official class, who were now absent.
Their interests were being redistributed to the common people and the Great Protector’s Mansion.
In this way, it could both mobilize the enthusiasm of the common people and significantly increase the Northern Frontier’s treasury revenue.
It was a win-win situation.
Therefore, Li Xiao was persistently promoting the collectivization of land.
Another benefit of collectivization was the change in channels for class advancement.
Ordinary common people were not allowed to own private land and could only rent public land from the Great Protector’s Mansion.
Consequently, local magnates and the scholar-official class would no longer appear.
To change their fate, there were only two channels.
Becoming a merchant through handicraft sales, but this could not fundamentally change their class.
A lifetime of hard struggle might not even be worth a grandson’s casual “Grandfather, I want this.”
To achieve a leap in class, one could only join the army and become a military household, which would grant them private land. The more merits they earned, the more land they would acquire.
Only by becoming a military household could one qualify to become an official, and their social status would be higher.
This was the true capital that could be passed down to future generations.
Therefore, the collectivization of land was also subconsciously driving the common people to join the army, pushing the wheels of war in the Northern Frontier forward.
…
Compared to the high spirits of others, Su Renli sat aside, appearing dejected, as if the sky was about to fall.
Although he was also conscripted as a soldier, he held the respectable status of a Juren scholar.
Therefore, he received some preferential treatment and was assigned a relatively easy logistics job.
However, his mood remained extremely grim, solely because although the Su family was a modest household, they still owned several dozen mu of farmland.
If it were snatched away by the Northern Frontier people, the Su family would be utterly ruined.
“Brother Su, what should we do?”
“Those Northern Frontier barbarians are after our very livelihood.”
A fellow Juren scholar-soldier sidled up, his face a picture of misery, and said.
His family owned even more land!
“Now, all we can do is do our best and leave the rest to fate,” Su Renli sighed.
He planned to find an opportunity to go home and discuss with his wife. She was from the Northern Frontier, so perhaps she could find a relative there and use some silver to keep their farmland.
